Sunday, March 26, 2006
no week is complete without my sunday blogfest! ok so this week had enough stuff to say that i have 2 posts (posted a rather more 'articulate' piece in the afternoon"). and of course my weekly update! my rather dodgy USB cable is working now, so i managed to upload pics from my class cook fest last week! =)
waiting for cabs.. zzz
brandon knows how to pose with his food ;)
thinking of the mess ahead..
haha shopping for food with brandon and luke is damn funny lah. imagine 3 guys walking about market place (paragon) with a trolley, 2 huge cookbooks (one of which is jamie oliver no less), and lots of different ideas of what to cook. haha its just one indecision after another... think we pretty much explored the whole of market place before deciding on what to buy. finally got to brandon's place... and eugene joined us! haha of course we played some winning eleven and pool before anything really started... had to pick up a really lost michy in between heh. but at least she wasnt the most lost person that day... tt prize goes to howard. =p (no suprises eh hehe) and the cooking gets underway!
the supervising officer! and he gets straight to work
peeling the cherry tomatoes 'so that the bagette wont be all soggy with tomato juice'
look at all those cute meatballs!! (and the meatballman in the corner heh)
luke and domestication 101 (by joy no less haha)
nice bruschettas!
michelle and eugy frying the meatballs
dont they look like ikea's swedish meatballs =)
a little kitchen attitude..
a LOT of kitchen attitude. 'kuah simi? touch my spaghetti and you die'
cooking was loads of fun... perhaps even more fun than eating haha. we aren't as good cooks as we imagine... *halo*
our simple feast.. at least its OURS =)
a lil' dessert... tiramisu. or more like bailey's molded into tiramisu =p it was SOAKED with alcohol lah. but still nice heh
after a cosy dinner... there's still lots of time to carrying on pooling! couldnt find anything to watch on the tele (apart from soccer heh) so most of the time was spent just chatting and chillin'.
showing his madskills!
joy begs to differ... 'like, whatever.'
no aH gathering is complete without a little music and singalong..
and of course, general chillin' out. look at liz in uber-cool-babe mode ;)
i love my class!! =)
meanwhile had a pretty relaxing weekend this week... just resting and recuperating. like i've been saying... march has been a long month. thats coming to an end this week! *yay* a new beginning every week i say =) met clara for lunch on sat (i love my dintaifung), and then met up with aims and lychee at starbucks after tt. chilled out for awhile (while they 'tried' to do their essays heh) before heading over to lido to catch mad hot ballroom.. which despite being a documentary and a tad draggy... was pretty good! and made me realise how much i miss dancing too :( haha sometimes all u need to do is look in the mirror and groove a little.. makes me feel a whole lot better somehow =p had dinner at aims' restaurant after tt... i love my jap food. :) after which headed down to holland v with plans to supper... but wasnt feeling too good. and alvin (as usual, you idiot) had to go home, so in the end we decided that we'll meet for supper on thursday this week (i hope that friday IS really off in lieu for us). had a pleasant walk home with joy after tt.. its great to have a neighbour.. or at least someone you know who lives real close by heh. so... a pretty good saturday lah. and a good saturday always means a good weekend! especially followed by a relaxed sunday lazing about at home watching shows and chatting =)
so... till next sunday then!
look at the stars, look how they shine for you. everything you do, yeah they were all yellow.
or so it seems, at 9:18 PM
Of Gossamer Beginnings and a Senescent Past'None of us choose our end, really. A king may move a man. A father may claim a son. But remember that even when those who move you be kings, or, men of power. Your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God you cannot say 'but i was told by others to do thus' or that virtue was not convienient at the time. This will not suffice.'
If there is one thing in this world that makes me want to improve myself, it is to see men speak with such elegance and grace.
The above quote is taken from The Kingdom of Heaven (which i am in the midst of watching =p) but it find it quite apt to describe the current position i find myself in. Imagine what it is like to have spent a year at a place of work. This long year in itself having been preceded by 2 months of training; training in which being screamed at and being placed under incredible physical and mental pressure was a daily routine. And within this first half of this year, you make bonds that are irreplacble. A brotherhood of men, so to speak. It is within this brotherhood whereby all notions of superiority are ignored, are everyone is equal. Equal in the sense that we understand each other, we feel and know how each other work, we accept each for their faults. We suffer together, play together, endure together. Despite any conflicts that this imposed superiority of rank might suggest, things just worked well. Everything clicked. And during this time, as the year passes, new people are thrown into the equation. People whom we then have the 'privilege', may it be, to teach and to supervise, to ease into the brotherhood as one of our own. One expects them to prove themselves as adequate as their imposed superiority should require, and surely then concessions will have to be made, as they are afterall, new. But still a tinge of discontent and unsatisfaction remains, when one sees the manner of training they undergo. A far cry from the personal sufferings one had to endure, the new training barely scratches the surface of pain that one had to pass through in order to attain ones current position. Regardless, one can do nothing but watch, for what are we but simple men, men with no position nor power. And still we fight on.
This culmination of brotherhood over the year hits it peak during the toughest period, during which everyone bands together to endure the physical and mental strains of a difficult assessment. It is during this time that the reality sinks in that soon our brotherhood will be shattered by the departure of over half its members. Brothers whom spent the better part of a year not only guiding us and leading us, but most importantly befriending us. Despite this knowledge, hope still remains that the same can be expected of the incoming, and that a new brotherhood can be formed, not to replace the old one, but to continue on the strong tradition and culture of the battery. Such hope has so far proven naive.
It is with a heavy heart that i now have come to realise the passing of a brotherhood once so rich in unity and camaraderie. A brotherhood that I had taken for granted and let pass without so much as the blinking of an eye. A memory that only serves to to remind me of the glorious past, but leaves me in a turbulent present and with a tremulous future.
And yet there must always be hope.
This stems from the knowledge that one is able to see all this from a far, and is able to admit his own faults at accepting a new brotherhood. Perhaps it is just to say that we had clung on to foolish dreams that things would never change, that having once worked so hard to prove ourselves worthy of a place in such an esteem brotherhood, we would no longer be required to work as hard, that we would be acknowledged for our contributions and given, for the first time in our lives, the backseat. Somehow we find ourselves back at the beginning again, though instead this time while we have already completed one full circle, our new 'kings' have only just begun theirs, having no less spent their formative days in this new environment enjoying a training course even simpler and less taxing that we would ever have thought possible. For if we had gone through Hell, they had simply enjoyed a cruise through the street of Heaven.
It is at this point of time, then, that things will start all over. A new beginning of sorts. A beginning whereby we will admit to our mistakes in the past few weeks. And at the same time hope that our 'kings' will admit to theirs. I believe strongly in the power of words, and yet i am also aware at the ability of some to use words to protect themselves. 'Artists use lies to tell the truth, governments use lies to cover the truth.' In a world in which perspective means everything, tomorrow we will have taken the first step towards forging a better battery. 'It is my land. What would i be if i did not try to make it better?'
Will the 'kings' do the same? We can only wait and see.
God please grant me the strength to be patient, and to do things as your Son would have done. Let the things i do be pleasing in your eyes. For that is all that matters.
or so it seems, at 1:57 PM
Sunday, March 19, 2006
caught v for vendetta yesterday... was blown away by it. really really good show... heh somehow everything V said had a certain profound impact on me. its like the kind of moments when u feel like your life is changing/will be change. thats how powerful words can be. and at the end of the day, guess what. its still just a show.
was thinking of maybe making another blog... one for like a more eloquent/sophisticated blogging style, where i can freely discuss any philosphical issue that comes to mind, or any issue for that matter. something less personal and more.. political. but then i realised that that would be a step away from personal blogging for me, and thats the reason i started blogging in the first place. i blog for me, and to update my close friends on whats happening in my life.. i guess im not ready to start going on about life and other issues, issues in the news or whatever. and maybe because i dont have the time, and im too lazy :p
well march has been quite an eventful month (as it promised to be) but things got even more eventful at brandon's cookfest yesterday. haha joy provided a surprise visit which wasnt much of a surprise to the guys (we went 'ugh' and 'grunt' according to joy when she sprung her surpise) haha. or maybe its because i had already heard tt she was back. hahaha. or guys just dont react with the 'ahhhh' and *hugshugs* reaction =p. anyway had a pretty relaxing day... learnt that salt SHOULD be added when cooking haha. especially meat =p cooking 101. got driven back to a less ulu location (bkt timah) after tt by jon in his mom's lexus... argh i cant wait to drive! was good to see familiar faces again, some no longer that familiar (see what im hinting at =p).
will be posting some photos when i feel less lethargic.. havent been getting enough sleep. and camp is still tiring... but at least welcome guard will be done on monday, and ACCT is drawing to a close.
remember remember, the 5th of... JUNE! my driving test wish me luck!
and keep wishing me luck until the date actually comes and i pass haha.
or so it seems, at 5:31 PM
Sunday, March 12, 2006
crazy week finally over. in camp at least. had office duty on monday... which ended up carrying over into tuesday morning.. then guard, then acct on weds afternoon. followed by driving, then soc on thurs morning, acct on thurs aft, and driving on thurs night. hahaha. and acct again on friday morning, before finally HOME! =) pretty much spent this weekend stoning at home doing nothing much than drool over cars and chat abit here and chat abit there.. sigh i gotta stop thinking about cars. think most likely it'll just be a simple car to get from A to B.. PLUS my mom is making a big fuss about wanting to get an auto car and not a manual car (which makes sense i guess if she goes and gets herself an auto license) but otherwise i still think that i'd rather drive a manual. i mean.. why am i getting a manual license only to spend the next few years driving an auto car? *shrug* think its just silly.
anyways hope i can book my tp on saturday! haha left with 2 subjects and my FTT before i can book my tp. ftt on thurs shouldnt be a problem, especially after i did like, maybe even nearly 200 questions on ssdc's computer haha. and tentatively taking 3 lessons on saturday... so i should be clear for my tp liao =) right now the earliest date is late may.. late late may. think i'll have to settle for booking a spot in june, maybe i can get an earlier date if someone decides to change theirs. haiz i cant imagine waiting 3 months to take my tp.
haha shout out to caleb now. paiseh lah just now i really wasnt in a very chatty mood =p thanks for the concern about my walk with God and all though.. appreciate it =) even though its something distant from my mind right now.
so... week 2 in the super long month of march has started. all my ording camp buddies will be picking up their pink ics this week.. sigh. november isnt far away.
it really isnt :p
or so it seems, at 8:19 PM
Sunday, March 05, 2006
been too busy to be tired, really. have been having 'completely stoned' moments here and there though... think i'd better find a day (maybe tmrw while on office duty) to get a long good nights rest. or maybe i'll just end up watching tv/vcds/dvd all night ah ha ha.
spent the week pretty much slogging away in camp with guard on tuesday.. SOC on thursday.. haha. and thats nothing, cos for the next four weeks i'll be doing close combat training two hours four days a week, with the other day for soc. yay! and not to mention driving at night, and guard once a week. yipee. so much for ord mode eh? ah ha ha.
haiz. on a side note had a good weekend! had vis a vis at chun tin road (upper bkt timah for you suaku kias, al-ameen there) for my mom's bday dinner on friday. which was shiok! had like, the best steak of my life there. medium rare the way i love it *carnivorous grin* hahaha. then on saturday had one of the smoothest driving lessons ever heh, followed by some retail therapy (or extensive window shopping) with bev whom i havent seen in awhile. ran into aims/lychee/melvin at starbucks after tt heh. 'forced me' (quoted from aims blog =p) to hang out awhile... =) then had driving on sunday again, compulsory auto lesson this time. which is SUPER relaxing omg almost makes we want to drive an auto car lah. so easy one. hahaha sorry michy ;) had lunch at fish&co. with my parents after tt.. and got myself a nice green mambo polo tee muaha. so... that makes for a great weekend :D
even if i have to book in. like now.
oh yah. shout out to all my holland v khakis. WHERE HAVE YOU ALL GONE! jidan if i have to spend another friday night NOT having supper at essential brews i think i'll just throw away my membership card. since its NOT being USED -_-
thats all. supper. on friday.
or so it seems, at 9:19 PM
